


Day Twenty Three

by The_Wilds_Musings (HarryJamesPeralta)



Series: Hidden Moments [5]
Category: The Wilds (TV 2020)
Genre: Aftermath, F/F, Pain, Post Season 1, shark attack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-15 20:40:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29070453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HarryJamesPeralta/pseuds/The_Wilds_Musings
Summary: The direct aftermath of the shark attack from afternoon until night.  Toni and Shelby talk about being open on the island and their relationship.  Rachel is in pain, obviously.
Relationships: Dot Campbell & Fatin Jadmani, Shelby Goodkind/Toni Shalifoe
Series: Hidden Moments [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2127060
Comments: 1
Kudos: 67





	Day Twenty Three

Day Twenty Three

Waking up next to Toni was indescribably beautiful to Shelby.The way the other girl looked so peaceful in her sleep, her face relaxed, her body soft, the complete opposite of what Toni was like the first few days on the island.Tense, angry, scared, sleeping Toni was an absolute goddess.Shelby sat for quite some time, her mind racing in twelve different directions about what to say to Toni when she finally woke.

“Just waking?” She managed to say quietly, her eyes were unfocused and she could feel her voice tremble slightly.Toni’s answer was sure, calm, collected, something she was incredibly jealous of in this very moment.

“Yeah, I’m a slow starter,” came Toni’s response followed by a rumbling yawn, “Sorry, that was some weird Chewbacca type yawn,” Toni’s eyes met Shelby’s for a moment and Shelby could see the concern on her sweet face.“Are you okay?” Toni asked her, and was she? Yes…No…Kind of?Her thoughts raced to her dad, to Kyle, to Becca, to the other Pageant girls, her mom, Becca, Kyle, her dad, they kept going around in circles until she hid her head in her knees.“You just got in tornado drill position, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say you’re not entirely okay,” Shelby took a deep, unsteady breath.

“It’s not like I didn’t like it…because I did,”

“Shelby, it’s okay, whatever you want to do next is completely fine with me,” Toni was trying to reassure her, but maybe she just wanted the sex and that was it?Shelby’s mind raced again, her dad, Kyle, Becca, mom, dad, Kyle, Becca, mom, Becca, Becca,” she shook her head.In the end, they decided to walk back to camp with a bunch of Lychees and call it a day, she was still concerned about Toni, but she was just going to try and play it by ear. 

They made it back to camp in record time, learned of Marty’s kill, and then their world was turned upside down.Marty’s shrill scream of “Shark” had alerted everyone except the one in danger.Leah had sprinted into the water swimming toward danger, which for some reason was a huge surprise to Shelby, Dot and Fatin paused at the edge watching, Nora took off after Leah, not able to keep up and Marty was frozen on the spot she had screamed from.Shelby reached down taking Toni’s hand as they watched precariously, Fatin screamed as Rachel was tugged beneath the surface of the ocean, Leah was almost to her.Shelby hid her face against Toni, Toni was completely unable to look away. 

  
When Leah’s head broke the surface of the water dragging Rachel behind her, a trail of red stained the water, Nora screamed from where she was still a hundred yards out, “Rachel,” but the girl didn’t respond.Leah struggled to pull the swimmer, the shark had fled, with how much of Rachel she couldn’t be sure, but the blood was alarming.Nora swam hard to reach them and together they pulled Rachel to the shore where Dot and Fatin helped them carry her up the beach. 

Dot’s quick thinking had Rachel’s arm tied tightly to stem the blood flow so they could survey the damage, not as bad as it could be, but she was one hundred percent certain Rachel wasn’t going to see it that way.Forty minutes of work later, a sobbing Rachel held her arm as best as she could.They had stopped the bleeding, bandaged the stump as best as they could after dousing it in antibiotic liquid, and forced the strongest painkiller they had down her throat.It didn’t take long for the girl to either fall asleep or completely pass out, whether from bloodless, exhaustion, or pain they weren’t sure. 

The group was morose, Leah was completely silent, staring at Nora suspiciously, their conversation tabled for now until Rachel was out of the woods.In fact, the rest of the day passed in near silence, no one daring to speak out, Shelby hadn’t managed to peel herself from Toni’s side, at this point and at this moment she didn’t care what the other girls thought.She was terrified of what had happened to Rachel, and emotionally drained from their last few days in general.Her brain was in complete overload, from Rachel's attack, Leah’s attack on Nora which was curbed for the moment, her talking about Becca and her family, it was all too much.Dot and Fatin had taken to sitting on the edge of the beach, Nora had snuck off to be by herself, and Marty, sweet, innocent Marty was checking on Rachel every ten minutes like clockwork, she had rinsed her bandages made from a shirt at least ten times already in the boiled water, tied new bandages in place, given Rachel another dose of painkiller, given her food.Rachel, at the very least, was in shock, they treated her the best they knew how, and prayed she didn’t get an infection at this rate.They knew to keep it clean, wash it frequently, try to curb the pain, but other than that they honestly had no idea what to do next.

Night fell quickly over the group.They all huddled around Rachel rather than dragging her to the shelter and disturbing her fitful sleep.Between the eight of them, there were more tears shed today than probably the entirety of their childhoods.Shelby and Toni finished smoking the goat meat around seven at night, storing it as best as they could be tied in bundles in the back of their shelter.Rationed properly, it would feed them all for at least a week, but Shelby knew they’d have to go out and hunt for something else soon.If there was one goat on the island, there were bound to be more, and maybe other animals as well, they had after all seen a ferret, that wasn’t as much meat, but enough for them to survive.

Rachel woke several times in the night crying out, next to the fire they could see what they were doing and managed to change her bandages, make her drink water, eat, and lull her back to sleep. 

“I don’t know if she will make it through this,” Shelby whispered to Toni, they were sitting a ways away from the group at this point and Toni nodded.

  
“I know,” she whispered back, “her body is in shock, I’ll be surprised if she does make it, if she remembers anything about today or really the next week.” Toni said lightly.“I think she’s almost out of the woods, bleeding wise, but its going to be a bitch keeping that from getting infected, and if it does get infected, keeping her from dying from infection.” Toni bit out harshly.Shelby nodded, it was going to be a challenge.

“I’m sorry if I’ve been clingy today,” Shelby spoke gently, “It's just been…” she trailed off and rested her head on Toni’s shoulder.

“Difficult?” Toni supplied and Shelby nodded.

“You’re right though, I’m free on this island and I don’t have any expectations on me, I’m not going to hide from the girls, but I’m not going to outright tell them anything,” Shelby admitted and Toni couldn’t help but laugh.

“They’ll have us figured out by tomorrow at noon,” Toni told her.Shelby shrugged.

“It is what it is I guess,” she answered.“I am afraid though,” she admitted.

“Of the other girls?” Toni asked looking at her questioningly.

“Of being rescued,” Shelby whispered. 

“Because of your parents?” Toni asked and Shelby nodded.

“I will fight Dave and JoBeth Goodkind,” Toni told her seriously and Shelby snorted. 

“I’d pay to see that fight,” she told Toni, a yawn took her by surprise and Toni poked her playfully.

“let's go to sleep,” she whispered to Shelby, Shelby nodded tiredly.

“I need to, today was too much,” she admitted, she did however not let go of Toni’s hand as they made their way back to the group.Fatin made suspicious eye contact with Toni, as did Marty, but neither girl said anything. 

Sleep didn’t come to the group until near daybreak.Rachel had made it through the first night of pain, the next few days would be the worst of it, and then she’d slowly begin to feel better, according to Dot and Nora. 

Nearly all of them fell asleep touching Rachel in some capacity, feeling comfort in the fact that her skin was not too hot or too cold, and that she was still there.


End file.
